Precept of Judaism

Tzedakah — obligatory giving.

Not charity as sentiment but justice as duty: a fixed claim of the poor on every income.

What it asksGive — a tenth is the working standard, and it is owed, not donated

Who it bindsEvery Jew, including the poor, who are also obligated to give

Where it bitesMaimonides ranks eight levels: the highest is a loan or partnership that ends the need for charity entirely

Understanding it — context, not catechism: how this passage is held

Tzedakah shares a root with tzedek, justice — not with charity, mercy, or love. The word choice is the doctrine: giving is a debt owed, not a generosity extended, and the poor are entitled rather than grateful. Maimonides' eight levels rank anonymity highly (neither party knowing the other) and rank a job or a loan that ends the poverty above every form of gift, which makes the classical Jewish theory of welfare closer to development economics than to almsgiving.

From the sources — the passages this rests on; concise renderings, cited

Whoever saves a single life is considered to have saved the whole world.
Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5
Cited constantly in Jewish ethics of giving and of rescue.

The same ground, other faiths

claims that share this one's ideas

The alms round. Buddhism · rite Go deeper →

Gochari — grazing for alms. Jainism · rite Go deeper →

Love of God and neighbor is the whole law. Christianity · core tenet Go deeper →

The two Eids. Islam · rite Go deeper →

Work honestly, and share what you earn. Sikhism · core tenet Go deeper →

The seventh month. Taoism · rite Go deeper →

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Where next

← Show up — for the sick, the stranger, the mourner.the previous passage in Judaism Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbour. →the next passage in Judaism Judaism's How to Live roomback up one layer Propose a change to this passageone button — it routes to the review pool